Wallaby Escapee Leaves Salt Lake Airport for Black Hills

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- A wallaby is settling into a new home in the Black Hills after getting out of its kennel during a flight change in Salt Lake City.

The 5-pound, 7-month-old male Australian marsupial escaped Thursday but had only a few minutes of freedom.

Roxy Bell, whose family owns The Roo Ranch near Deadwood, said vibration during the flight likely loosened buckles on the side of the kennel.

The wallaby - a smaller, stockier version of a kangaroo - did not kick its way out of the kennel, she said.

"I just don't want them to get a bad reputation. You know, 'Mean kangaroo gets out,'" Bell said. "They're not mean. They're very tame."

In fact, a young female wallaby in the same cage stayed put.

The pair arrived in Rapid City late Thursday, Bell said.

Airport workers caught the young wallaby within five minutes after it hopped across the tarmac, said Marissa Snow, a spokeswoman for SkyWest Airlines, based in St. George, Utah.

"It is a good reminder for people who are transporting live cargo to check their kennels and make sure they're in operating order," she said.

Bell said it was the first escape for any of the animals being shipped to the Roo Ranch.

It helped Bell find a name for the fugitive wallaby: Tarmac.

The Bell family plans to open the Roo Ranch, which has about 50 kangaroos and wallabies, on Memorial Day weekend. It would join other animal-oriented attractions in the Black Hills such Bear Country USA, Reptile Gardens and Trout Haven.

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